See mail for price of runoff

Sample bills for stormwater fees on the way

Posted: Wednesday, April 13, 2005

By Blake Auedblake.aued@onlineathens.com

The groups that received the two largest sample stormwater utility bills this week - the University of Georgia and the Clarke County School District - still are not sure how much they are willing to pay.

The school system will owe about $86,000, slightly more than anticipated, when real bills are sent in July, according to the Athens-Clarke Department of Transportation and Public Works.

But, in addition to the credits offered to ordinary property owners for rain gardens (landscaped bowls designed to collect runoff), public schools can also reduce the bill by teaching about water protection in environmental science classes, according to Stormwater Education Coordinator Cail Hammons.

UGA is also looking to get credit against its estimated $220,000 bill by building its own stormwater management system, said Hank Huckaby, UGA vice president of finance and administration.

UGA had not received its sample bill Tuesday, but administrators expect the real bill to be "considerably less," Huckaby said.

County officials are still negotiating a final figure with UGA.

Athens-Clarke sent out sample bills this week to give property owners a chance to review the new bill - which county commissioners approved last year and which will come due for the first time in July.

Elissa Eubanks/Staff

Rose Mary Seymore, from the Griffin campus of the University of Georgia's College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, talks Monday night at a workshop about building rain gardens to help manage stormwater runoff.

For the 31,000 owners of developed property like houses, businesses, farms and churches, the stormwater utility bills will begin to arrive this summer and will come every three months. Bills for homeowners will average about $11 per quarter, depending on the size of the house and the amount of impervious surface like concrete on the property.

Recipients will be able to mail the bills to a post office box or pay them in person at a county office, but which office has not yet been decided, Hammons said.

Most questions so far regarding the sample bills have been related to condominiums, Hammons said. Residents of condominiums will pay the utility fee for the property they own, she said, and the fee for community-owned land like tennis courts or parking lots will be split equally among owners.

The fee will be paid by owners of developed property like houses, apartment complexes, businesses and non-profits like churches. It will raise about $3 million per year to cover the cost of running and maintaining the stormwater utility, which is designed to keep rain from carrying oil, fertilizer and other pollutants into local rivers and streams.